


The Aftermath

by Talulaskye



Category: Call of Cthulhu (Roleplaying Game), Internet Remix, call of cthulhu masks of nyarlathotep
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-13
Updated: 2020-11-13
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:27:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27541576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Talulaskye/pseuds/Talulaskye
Summary: I would like to thank Xangonne for being my personal editor for this fic. Xangonne helped me a lot with this, and I couldn't have asked for a better editor. Thank you so much Xangonne!
Comments: 4
Kudos: 6





	The Aftermath

**Author's Note:**

> I would like to thank Xangonne for being my personal editor for this fic. Xangonne helped me a lot with this, and I couldn't have asked for a better editor. Thank you so much Xangonne!

“Johnny Reportman, you get your ass over here this instant!”

Rebecca ran down the hallway towards Johnny until she finally cornered him. 

“What did you do with my orange juice?”

She placed a hand on her hip, waiting for his response. 

“I don’t know whatcha talkin’ about. What orange juice?”

“Don’t play dumb with me Johnny, I know you took it.”

Johnny sighed and put his hands up in defeat. 

“Alright alright, you caught me, what are you gonna do, arrest me?”

He smiled down at her. Rebecca continued to glare at him. 

“No, but you did lose me more time with them.”

“What me? You're the one who said for them to leave Shosenburg, how is this my fault?”

She pointed a finger in his face

“Yeah? And if you didn’t take my orange juice in the first place, we wouldn’t be in this situation to begin with dingus.”

“Rebecca come on, it’s not that--”

Before Johnny could finish speaking, Rebecca turned around and started walking back to her office. 

“Ah shit. Rebecca, hold on!”

Johnny followed behind Rebecca, trying to catch up to her. He shouted her name several times to try and get her attention, but she kept on walking. When they reached the door to her office she opened it and slammed it right in Johnny’s face. A few other co-workers in the hallway stared towards him. One co-worker came up to Johnny and patted him on the shoulder.

“You really did it this time, Johnny”

“Oh can it, with you?”

He brushed off the coworker’s hand and grabbed a key out of his back pocket. He unlocked the door, but before entering, gave a knock. There was no response. He twisted the doorknob open, entered the room, and locked the door behind him.

Rebecca sat at her desk, hands through her hair, clearly frustrated. 

“Johnny, now is not a really good time.”

He didn’t say anything as he made his way over to her desk. He sat down in the chair. 

“Shosenburg…”

“Now is not a good time.”

Her face was staring down at the desk, her hands still in her hair. 

“Well too bad, cause I'm not leaving. Look as much as you like orange juice, I don’t think that’s what’s on your mind, now is it?”

Rebbeca took her hands out of her hair and sighed. Adrenaline was still rushing through her and she was a second away from probably knocking someone’s eye out. Johnny put his elbows on the table and put his hands out towards Rebecca, palms facing up towards the ceiling. 

“Give me your hands.”

“What?”

“Rebecca, come on now just trust me.”

She rolled her eyes, but agreed and placed her hands in his. They felt soft, so soft that it seemed like he had never worked a day in his life. 

“Now, I’m gonna move my hands away and you keep yours there, alright?”

“Alright?”

She raised an eyebrow and looked at Johnny, who was deep in concentration looking over her hands. She couldn’t tell if this was another one of his jokes or if he was being serious. 

Johnny let go of Rebecca’s hands. He could see that her hands were shaking. 

“Ahh, there it is.”

“There’s what?”  
Rebecca looked down at her hands. They were slightly shaking but she didn’t notice anything else.

“Here.” Johnny placed a flask in Rebecca’s hands. “Drink up.”

“I don’t really think I need alcohol right now.”

Johnny put a hand to his forehead.

“Shosenburg, now why would I give you alcohol if you were shaking? It’s water of course. The flask with alcohol is back in my office.”

Rebecca opened up the flask and smelled it. 

“Why would you put water in a flask?”

“For emergencies, of course.”

“Mhm sure.”

She took a few sips from the flask and tossed it back to him.

“Feel better?” 

“Yeah…”

Johnny noticed her name plaque on the desk had fallen over and he tilted it back up.

“Now, did you listen to my advice at all, or were you a bearcat?”

Rebecca sighed. 

“Another nickname? And I tried but I’m not like you, Johnny. I can’t just pour my heart out to people. I’m a reporter. I gotta think fast, move quickly, and ask the tough questions.”

Johnny let a smile cross his face. 

“Well, that’s a complete lie. You pour your heart out to me all the time while in--”

Before he could finish his sentence, she grabbed the newspaper on her desk from the meeting and wacked him in the head.

“Ow! Jeez, you like cutting me off today or something?”

Rebecca raised the newspaper in her hands, ready for a round two. 

“Alright fine, I deserved that one.”

Rebecca lowered the paper and placed it back on the desk.

“I did get some information though. Apparently, they told the clubhouse about the murder, which was frustrating. Though speaking of Jackson: apparently according to Dr. Sullivan, his ‘bread and butter’ was death cults.” 

“Well, that makes sense. Not the death cult thing, telling the police I mean. What else would you expect if they saw a friend they knew was dead? Of course, they would report it to the police.”

“Yeah, but they’ll just beat their gums and after a few weeks forget about it, like it never happened. Enough about the heat though…”

Johnny looked down at the newspaper in front of him and back up at Rebecca. 

“So, any idea on possibly who did it?” 

“No clue, but if Jackson was involved with cults I doubt it would be anything good.”

“I mean obviously. But cults here in New York? It’s crazy talk.”

“Well, I could be joining them for a bit…”

“Rebecca, what do you mean?”

“Dr. Sullivan said I could possibly tag along. He said he would contact me later.”

“No. No Rebecca, no you can’t.”

“Why can’t I! I want to figure out this case. I'm so close, and if I can tag along, I would gain even more information.” 

“Ha! Or you could be pinched. Shosenburg, is this something you want to risk your life over? You mentioned these death cults, and I don’t know about you, but anything with the word ‘death’ doesn’t sound good.”

“Johnny, like I said, I’ll do whatever it takes.” 

Johnny stared into Rebecca’s eyes, keeping contact, and not blinking. 

“Staring me down won’t change my mind, Johnny.”

Rebecca followed suit and stared at Johnny: leaving the two in a weird staring contest. Eyes were the key to the soul, and Rebecca could see right through Johnny. He was determined, worried, but most of all he was scared not for himself but for her. Johnny averted his gaze from hers and took a deep breath in and out.

“So you’re going through with this then?”

“That’s the plan.”

She looked down at her desk with newspapers and various books and notes.

“I should clean up all of this.”

She started cleaning up her desk as Johnny processed the information he had been given. He rested his hands on his forehead, not saying a word. A few minutes pass while Rebecca cleans up the two not saying a word to each other. 

The silence wasn’t unbearable, but still difficult to deal with. Johnny’s mind was racing with a thousand things he could say to her: to yell at her for how crazy this was, to shout out her for being so stubborn, to threaten her to tell the boss what she was doing, or to lie and go along with what she was doing. But he said nothing, instead, he got out of his chair and made his way to Shosenburg. Johnny let her put away the books before turning her towards him. She had tears in her eyes. 

“Rebecca, look. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you cry.”

She sighed, blinking several times to get rid of the tears. 

“You have nothing to apologize for. I’m the stubborn woman getting involved in murders and possible death cults. But this case is too important. I want to figure out what's going on.” 

"I know. But is it really something you want to possibly die for?" 

Rebecca hesitated at the thought for a moment, but nodded. Johnny shook his head acknowledging her decision. He knew he couldn't change her mind. No amount of words or wit would win this battle. He could feel his eyes start to sting as tears began to form. 

“You know I love you Shosenburg, right?”

“I know.”

“And I would do anything for you.”

“I know." 

The two stared at each other, tears welling up in both of their eyes until they both broke and the tears started falling down their faces. He instinctively caressed her face, wiping away the tears on the left side of her cheek. 

“But hey we still have the rest of today and--”

“Johnny, just shut up and kiss me already."

Rebecca didn't wait for Johnny to react as she pulled on Johnny’s suit collar into a kiss. It was soft and comforting in ways that words would never be. Johnny pulled her towards him, one hand on her back, the other caressing her head: closing the gap even further between the two, so that they now could feel each other’s heartbeat. In that moment, for just a few seconds, it felt like the world melted away. Their lips parted as the two stared at each other, a thousand words in their eyes trying to say something. 

“Johnny, I love you too.”

A smile crept on Johnny’s face. 

“What was that? I didn’t hear you.”

Rebecca pouted but her cheeks were tinted with a soft pink glow. 

“I said I love you, dingus.”

She shoved his shoulder, separating the two of them. 

“Oh I know, I just wanted to hear you say it again.”

He gave a flashy smile and a wink which made Rebecca’s cheeks turn red. 

“Now let's not ruin this day. How about I go buy the orange juice I drank then, since you were so mad about it earlier.”

“Better idea, get the drinks and we’ll head over to my place.”

Johnny couldn’t help but let a laugh escape. 

“I see Miss Rebecca Shosenburg, you want the cash and the check it seems.”

He cocked his head to the side, raising an eyebrow in amusement. 

“No! I most definitely not!”

“Well you took the cash earlier, so what is this now?” 

“You know what? I am an independent woman and I can do what I want, and I decide I want both so there!”

“Mhm, an independent woman. But you're with me, sweetheart.” 

He gave a sly smile and a wink at her. She couldn’t help but smile back in response. 

"Look, I don't have time to debate with you, grab your stuff and let's go." 

Rebecca went across the room to gather her things and to put on her coat and scarf. Johnny waited for her by the door, twirling the spare office keys in his hand. 

“Ready to go?”

She nodded, wrapping an arm around his as they exited the office. He locked the door behind him and put the key in his pocket. The two exited the building into the cold winter air of the night.


End file.
